ANTI-ABORTION KILLINGS: THE OVERVIEW

By JOHN KIFNER,

Published: December 31, 1994

BROOKLINE, Mass., Dec. 30—
A gunman dressed all in black stalked into two abortion clinics on the same street here this morning and started shooting, killing two receptionists and wounding five other people.

"Is this the Preterm clinic?" the gunman asked calmly at the second abortion center, stunned witnesses said. Then he reached into a duffel bag, pulled out a rifle and opened fire.

A clinic security guard, Richard J. Sarone, gave chase as the gunman ran from the clinic, situated in a medical office building in a quiet suburban area, but the man wheeled and fired, wounding the guard. Then the gunman vanished.

The shooting brought to five the number of people killed at clinics performing abortions. The three other killings have been in Florida.

Local and state police, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, undertook a wide search for the killer this evening, described as a youngish white man with a dark complexion. He was believed to have made his escape in a white or pale-colored compact car.

A Federal law-enforcement official said tonight that a 23-year-old man from Hampton, N.H., just over the Massachusetts border, was a suspect.

The official said a tentative identification had been made from a bag found at the second clinic containing a pistol and a receipt for ammunition from a gun shop in Massachusetts. The investigation by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms then led to a gun shop in Hampton, where the suspect had previously bought a handgun and a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle.

The dead were identified as Shannon Lowney, 25, a receptionist at the Planned Parenthood clinic who lived in Arlington, Mass., and Leanne Nichols, 38, of Salem, N.H., who worked at the Preterm clinic. The wounded were all clinic employees or volunteers.

The two abortion clinics, as well as a third one on the same street, have long been the target of almost daily protests. These grew so big on Saturdays, neighbors said, that people avoided that stretch of Beacon Street. Nevertheless, the shooting shocked this wealthy suburb that blends almost imperceptibly into Boston with boundaries that are straddled by the Boston University campus.

The Planned Parenthood clinic was participating in a nationwide trial of the French abortion pill, RU-486. Workers have received death threats at the clinic lately, and today began with the usual gathering of protesters outside the center. About 3,000 abortions are performed annually at the clinic, said Nicki Gamble, president of Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts.

"This is a sad day for Brookline," said a waitress at the Busy Bee, a neighborhood diner across the street from the Planned Parenthood clinic. She commented as she stared out the window at the cluster of police cars and television satellite trucks this afternoon, shortly after a blue body bag containing Ms. Lowney was placed in a medical examiner's truck.

"This man is nothing more than a terrorist," Gov. William F. Weld said at the Brookline Police Station, where Federal and local officials were coordinating the hunt for the suspect.

At the White House, President Clinton issued a statement saying he was "strongly committed to ending this form of domestic terrorism."

The attacks began shortly after 10 A.M. at the Planned Parenthood clinic, just a few blocks from the Boston city line at 1031 Beacon Street, a three-story brick building housing several doctors' offices in a section of brownstone apartments and shops.

Ten minutes after shooting up the Planned Parenthood clinic, the gunman appeared at the Preterm clinic, about a mile and a half away at 1842 Beacon Street, and began firing again.

At Planned Parenthood, the gunman would have had to walk up a few stairs to a small, first-floor vestibule to be buzzed into a reception and waiting room, where about 15 or 20 people could wait. The medical clinic area, off the reception room is always kept locked as a security measure.

Once inside, he began shooting, killing the receptionist, Ms. Lowney, and wounding three people: Antonio Hernandez, 32, of Worcester; Anjana Agrawal, 30, of Cambridge, and Brian Murray, 22, of Hingham.

Without saying a word, witnesses said, he turned his gun on the staff and people waiting in the clinic.

A police investigator at the scene said "there was blood everywhere."

Kelly Cunningham, a 32-year-old education student who had gone to the clinic with a friend who was getting a pregnancy test, said they were harassed by three men and two women who, as is often the case, were protesting outside.

The Preterm clinic is in an office building with the entrance on the first floor with a receptionist's desk to the right, and a few desks for office staff and a copying machine. A security man, usually an off-duty police officer, is usually on guard.

But the large room is "really open and vulnerable," recalled Sarah Judkins, who was on the staff there for a decade. In contrast, the fourth-floor clinic where medical procedures took place was more protected with an elaborate system of glass panels.

A witness who gave his name only as Harold, who still had blood on his hands from helping the wounded, gave this account of how the gunman killed the receptionist, Ms. Nichols:

"He came into the office with a big black duffel bag and said to the girl on the phone, 'Is this Preterm?' She said, 'Yes.' He dropped the duffel bag and turned on the girl."

Then, the witness said, "Bang, bang -- I heard five shots."

Richard Seron, the security guard who chased the gunman until he was wounded, remembered his saying something religious, said a Brookline police officer, Robert Allen. " 'In Jesus' name,' or 'Mother of God,' something to that effect," Officer Allen said, quoting Mr. Seron.

The gunman also wounded Jane Sauer, 29, of Cambridge, in this burst of shooting.

Helicopters hovered overhead as the police rushed from the scene of the first abortion clinic to the second. The small brass shells of a .22-caliber rifle were scattered on the sidewalk and a nearby gray car with anti-abortion bumper sticker had a bullet through its window.

At nightfall, hundreds of abortion rights supporters had gathered for a candlelight vigil and a service at the nearby Temple Ohabei Shalom.

Both clinics had been the target of almost constant, vociferous anti-abortion protesters.

Kathy Cicero, a receptionist at a dentist's office near the Planned Parenthood clinic, recalled that the chanting protesters often carried videotape cameras in an attempt to intimidate people coming to the clinic.

"They film everyone," she said. "They were bringing the bodies out, and they were still filming them."

Assaf Rutenberg, a volunteer who provided an escort for people coming to the clinic because of the protesters' presence, also recalled their passions.

"They block cars," he said. "They don't allow people to get out of their cars. They shove pictures in their faces and yell and scream."

Tom Hennessy, the chairman of the Brookline Board of Selectmen said the protests had been going on for years.

"In the middle to late 80's, it was wild -- really violent, with lots of arrests," Mr. Hennessy said. "But it's been reasonably peaceful lately."

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, Bernard Cardinal Law, canceled tomorrow's annual anti-abortion celebration because of the shooting, which he called "unconscionable violence."

But the Cardinal, a powerful influence in this heavily Catholic area, said today's shooting "must not be confused with the millions who advocate a pro-life position in peace."

"I would request that this tragic and criminal act of apparently one individual not become the occasion of universalizing blame," the Cardinal said.

Photos: The body of Shannon Lowney was removed from an abortion clinic where she was shot yesterday. (Associated Press) (pg. 1); Emergency workers helped Leanne Nichols, who was fatally shot yesterday at Preterm Health Services, an abortion clinic in Brookline, Mass. (George Rizer/The Boston Globe); Shannon Lowney, 25, was killed in an abortion clinic attack. (Associated Press) (pg. 8) Chronology: "Abortion-Related Violence" March 10, 1993: Dr. David Gunn was shot to death outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Fla. He was the first doctor in the nation killed during an anti-abortion demonstration. Michael Griffin was convicted of murder in the shooting and is serving a life sentence. Aug. 19, 1993: Dr. George Tiller was shot in both arms as he drove out of the parking lot of his clinic in Wichita, Kan. Rachelle Shannon was convicted of assault with intent to kill and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. July 29, 1994: Dr. John Bayard Britton and his escort, James H. Barrett, were shot to death outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola. Paul J. Hill, 40, an anti-abortion crusader and former minister, was convicted of state murder charges and sentenced to death. In a separate Federal trial, Mr. Hill was sentenced to life without parole for violating the new clinic-protection law. Nov. 8, 1994: Dr. Garson Romalis, who performs abortions in Vancouver, British Columbia, was shot in the leg while eating breakfast at home. There were no arrests. (AP) (pg. 8)